In today's hectic world, many parents attempt to perform a plethora of activities while simultaneously carrying or supporting a baby with their hands or arms. Unfortunately, as most parents can attest, it is oftentimes impossible to adequately, safely, or completely accomplish many activities while holding a baby. The manufacturers of baby equipment have recently ameliorated this problem to a certain degree by introducing many different types of baby carrying systems which offer "hands-free" operation. The two most popular baby carrying systems include the frame-type carriers which are customarily supported on the back of a wearer and the soft-type carriers which are supported on the front and/or hip areas of a wearer.
The soft-type carriers, which generally incorporate a pouch shaped baby seat, usually support a baby in a rearwardly facing direction in order to position the baby and wearer of the carrier in a mutually facing relationship. This positioning provides the baby with a constant, unobstructed and comforting view of the wearer, while simultaneously allowing the baby to examine the surrounding environment. Additionally, the warmth emanating from the wearer of the carrier and the tactile and aural sensations produced by the heartbeat and breathing of the wearer, further comfort the baby by simulating their mother's womb.
Although heretofore available soft-type carriers provide many benefits for parents and the like, they suffer from many disadvantages due to their inadequate, complex and uncomfortable harnessing arrangements. In particular, the confusingly large number of harness straps incorporated within the harnessing arrangements of prior art soft-type carriers, inadequately distribute the weight of a baby on the shoulders, neck and other areas of a wearer's torso. As a result, many of the presently available soft-type carriers produce a forward, downward force on the upper torso of the wearer, thereby causing the wearer to hunch over uncomfortably. Consequently, the wearer is often prematurely fatigued and/or subjected to neck and back pain due to the deficient design of prior art soft-type baby carriers. The inadequacies of the harnessing arrangements are due in part to the relative orientation of the harness straps, the pouch shaped baby seat and the neck, shoulders, arms and other sections of the wearer's torso.